AJN STAFF
Charles Zentai
CHARLES (Karoly) Zentai, the Perth man facing charges for a Holocaust-era murder, inched closer to being extradited after losing an appeal to the full bench of the Federal Court on Thursday.
Zentai, 88, is out on bail, and may still appeal his case to the High Court, after the Federal Court granted a stay of 14 days on the execution of a warrant for his extradition.
If Zentai appeals and loses he will face charges in Budapest.
He has always denied the charges relating to the murder of Peter Balazs, a young man who was beaten and then thrown into the Danube River in Budapest in 1944.
Two other officers in the Hungarian army were convicted of their complicity in Balazs’ murder in court proceedings soon after World War II.
Since his arrest in 2005 after investigations under the Simon Wiesenthal Centre’s worldwide Operation Last Chance, Zentai’s lawyers unsuccessfully argued that the Perth Magistrate’s Court had no jurisdiction to rule on extraditing him.
The Magistrate’s Court decision was upheld by Justice John Gilmour in the Federal Court in March this year, before yesterday’s ruling by the court’s full bench confirming Justice Gilmour’s decision.
Zentai has previously appealed to the High Court, when he challenged the magistrate court’s jurisdiction.
The final decision on extraditing him is in the hands of Attorney-General Robert McClelland, and he has referred it to Home Affairs Minister Brendan O’Connor, who has invited submissions on the matter.
A spokesperson for O’Connor’s office said that when it came time for a final decision on Zentai’s extradition, it would be made “expeditiously”.
